Big Ten Women: Penn State ousted in quarterfinals

• by Soccer America , Oct 31, 2016

Defending national champion Penn State fell to Rutgers, 2-0, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament Sunday afternoon at Jeffrey Field. The game was a repeat of last year's Big Ten final won by the Nittany Lions, 2-0.

The Scarlet Knights opened the scoring in the 28th minute of play on Erica Murphy's fourth goal of the season and added to their lead in the 72nd minute on Madison Tiernan's ninth goal of the season. Penn State's best chance in the fourth minute when Nickolette Driesse's shot attempt hit the crossbar.

"Credit to Rutgers today," Penn State head coach Erica Dambach said. "Obviously, it is a team we are familiar with, but they came out with more fire than we did. I think they set the tone early in the game. They imposed themselves on us, and we were never really able to find a foothold in this game today."

Penn State, one of three teams that finished with 7-1-3 records in the Big Ten, lost five players this fall who sat out to train with the USA, which is preparing for the Under-20 Women's World Cup.

Minnesota and Northwestern, which shared the regular-season title with Penn State, will Michigan and Rutgers in the semifinals.